Beijing - South China's Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region has been riding the high tide of opening up to the outside world since the beginning of the century. Thanks to its active role in various bilateral and multilateral economic co-operation platforms, it is now a stronghold in beefing up the country's trade ties with its Southeast Asian neighbors.

China's entry into the World Trade Organization in 2001 and the national initiative to develop the west region have brought a golden opportunity for Guangxi to jump on the bandwagon of economic development. It has pushed for an all-round participation in regional cooperation with Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and given full play to the platform function of the China-ASEAN Expo, an annual trade fair held in the region's capital Nanning since 2004.

Guangxi has taken an active part in the construction of the China-ASEAN Free Trade Area (FTA), which was launched at the beginning of this year.

The China-ASEAN FTA, together with other regional initiatives such as the Greater Mekong Sub-region Cooperation (GMS) and Pan-Beibu Gulf Economic Cooperation greatly lift the region's level in opening up to the outside world. ASEAN now remains the region's No 1 trade partner and second largest source of foreign investment.

Guangxi also takes advantage of its geographical proximity to forge trade and business ties with Hong Kong and Macao.

In 2007, the Longbang Port was approved as the country's first-grade port opening to the outside world. Since 2006, the country has poured in 324 million yuan ($47.6 million) to help Guangxi construct ports with foreign trade functions.

To respond to the challenges of the international financial crisis, Guangxi further optimized its foreign trade structure and quickened its steps to encourage enterprises to conduct foreign trade. From 2006 to 2009, the region's foreign trade volume registered an impressive 28.7 percent growth annually. Meanwhile, the proportion of machinery products rose from 22.5 percent to 32.3 percent and that of high-tech products from 2.9 percent to 5.2 percent.

The steady and growing contingent of businesses engaged in foreign trade has largely contributed to these impressive figures. From 2006-2009, 3,625 companies with different ownership background were approved to have a go in the foreign trade. The local government encourages and gives guidance to these businesses whenever possible.

The good national economic climate also prompted Guangxi to encourage its industries and business to invest or contract projects overseas.

Between 2006-2009, the total volume of foreign investment had increased by 39.8 percent annually.

The region now has 60 industrial parks specializing in three categories - high-tech, comprehensive economic development and foreign trade.

Apart from that, a string of industrial zones have emerged in recent years along the Beibu Gulf area, such as the Nanning-ASEAN Economic Development Zone, Beihai Electronic Industrial Park, Qinzhou Tariff-Free Open Port and Yulin Longtan Industrial Park.

The Xijiang River system, the main branch of China's third biggest river, the Pearl River, has provided Guangxi a unique opportunity to cultivate a convenient water transport network. According to its blueprint, by the end of 2010, the cargo-handling capacity of freshwater ports in Guangxi will surpass 80 million tons and commodity flow will be smooth all the way through its waterways and out to the sea.

China Daily

(China Daily 09/08/2010)